Demon Days
by Shenlong7
Summary: Never has Batman been put through the ropes like the following days as everything he has worked for is now being targeted by his enemies while he struggles to maintain a relationship with Selina. Batman and Catwoman Violence, Sexual suggestion, and langua
1. Chapter 1

A Violent Question

Disclaimer: The rights to Batman are not my own and this is made without the interest of profit nor the benefit of it. This is not a Riddler fick as the beginning may suggest and it will involve a lot of the ROgue Gallery. This also has an interpretation of the Riddler that is a bit different but not too dramatically different.

* * *

"Has the patient been awake since the surgery," asked one of the doctors as he started to tinker with the question mark cane that belonged to the red headed man on the table.

"No, Dr. Napier, there appears to be no change in the patient," said one of the attendants as they started to pick up the charts and then went back to monitoring the screen. "The damage to the brain was able to be repaired quite easily, but the real trick was getting his body to accept it. I've never seen someone react so violently to steroids like that."

"It's not surprising, he never was a physical man, but I suppose now he has some muscle to him," replied Dr. Napier as he started to pick up the piece of paper. "Of course this is only natural that his body would resent itself due to his father being a physical man and his immediate distaste in his family. How is the computer chip in his mind holding up, the mind controller?"

"Well it seems to be stable and ready for the patient to wake up," replied another attendant who was monitoring a graphical design of the brain of the patient and the places in which the chip affected. As the attendant turned back the brain started to move to a red zone and the chip graph started to move to a red as well. "There is an increase in the brain activity, it seems to be overloading the chip!"

"I want an electrical current sent through the left side to take out the logical resistance," ordered the doctor as he turned to the person operating the chip functions, but found that the person was no longer at their station. Instead there was a figure dressed in black body armor with an insignia marked out in the black armor with different patterns on the body raging from lighter to darker shades based on protection of the armor. The figure wore a mask that covered most of his face except for the mouth area, which was equipped with its own scowl.

"So this is where you've been keeping Nygma, Napier," said the figure as he stalked towards the doctor, knocking out the attendants that charged at him. "Now then you can tell me what you've been doing to the Riddler while you've had him here."

"All I've done is test one of his experiments that he once tried, an experiment in a chip that could bring out the best in a mind," said the good doctor as he tried to get back away into one of the drawers that he kept his gun in. "It was one of his best inventions while he was a genius still making his money with research, but during the unfortunate accident with a test of one of these in which his own professor was killed in. I've modified it a bit to give me the ability to control it, just like the chips used by the Mad Hatter. The chip process is not easy as I had to do many things to get him to accept such a thing I had to pump him full of steroids just to survive everything that I did to him."

"Now you have a bigger problem," said the dark figure as he pointed one of his gloves to the glass case that the Riddler was in. The doctor turned around to see that the room was empty with the lock hanging from its place. "Your patient is not there anymore."

* * *

The door to Grace's apartment was already open when she arrived from grocery shopping and a pair of wet footprints led the trail inside of the door up to a closet that she had never opened. Her landlord had told her never to open that door and so she had never once gazed into its contents. As such she was ignorant as to why anyone would want to go into that closet for she felt that it was the holding of probably some filthy secret that the landlord kept. She moved to the kitchen silently and picked up a skillet form the counter top to confront her burglar, but found that he was already walking  out. Instead of some man in dark clothes and a nylon stocking over his head, she found a man dressed in a green suit with a bowler hat and a purple domino mask. In his purple gloved hand was a cane that was in the shape of a question mark. The man looked at himself with a very curious look, as if he didn't remember who he was but somehow connected with these foreign objects in his hand. They somehow called to him, as did his namesake, and slowly the gaps in his mind were starting to fill up ever so slowly, all it needed was one final push.

"What is an eleven letter word that everyone pronounces incorrectly," asked the stranger in the green suit as he looked at the blank television and then turned his hand to study his palm. "It seems like the right thing to do, but for some reason I cannot think of why I'm asking such a thing. I suppose it just amuses me to ask that question."

"You're him aren't you…the one they call the Riddler," asked Grace as she looked at him and there was semblance of confirmation in his eyes before he started to fiddle with his cane. "What…what are you doing in my apartment?"

"Considering that I've got spare clothes here I'd think it was obvious," said the Riddler as he put his feet up over his leg and started to pick up a crossword puzzle. "This place is an old lair of mine, though I haven't been here in ages I still pay the landlord a bit of money from a secret bank account. I know that he's been extracting money so your occupation of this place is by all rights, illegal."

"What, I had to work hard to find a place this cheap," cried the woman as she tried to find some way to keep her house, but she didn't want to get on his bad side for despite the credit that he lost he was still a rogue. The Rogues Gallery was the most notorious criminals in Gotham that most every villain aspired to get on, but few were allowed to be a part of the crew. "I have been paying for this place just like you have so there is no reason why I shouldn't be allowed to stay here as well."

"You know this is a very odd place because by all rights I should have shot you the instant you walked in," said the Riddler as he got up from the couch and started to put his hand into his pocket in the most intimidating manner. "If it were anybody else the moment you'd have stepped into the door you would have been dead or something worse."

"I'm pretty good at screaming, I could wake the entire building up," threatened the woman as she started to raise her skillet in defense, but was caught off guard by the emotionless glance that the Riddler gave her.

"I'm already in your room, the time for screaming has long since passed," said the Riddler and he took his hand out of his pocket revealing that there was nothing in his hand. "Now then, I believe my riddle has been left unanswered. Get it right and I'll let you stay here provided you pay your half. Get it wrong and you'll be looking for another apartment. So then, are you smart enough to answer my riddle?"

* * *

The days passed by as Batman continued his pursuit of the elusive Riddler, who had not shown any sign of return to his old ways and soon it seemed like Batman had seen the last of the Riddler. It wasn't so much as a comfort as it was a burden because he had dedicated his life to helping some reform, including the Riddler. If he had not returned due to brain damage from the chip than the burden would fall onto the shoulders of Nightwing, who had given Riddler over to Dr. Napier. No one had ever seen the prominent professor as being one to take control of things in such a way that would be entirely criminal. Most people believed that Dr. Napier was only trying to cure Riddler of his problems since the two had been good friends before the unfortunate experiment that made Nygma into the Riddler. Now there was an ongoing investigation as to whether the accident was an accident or if someone had tampered with the chip, but it seemed impossible for Dr. Napier to do so at the time since he was far from an engineer.

"It just doesn't add up, Napier wasn't even able to get near the technology because they kept it so secretive," said Batman as he started to examine the chip display that he had downloaded onto his computer. "Perhaps there was someone else with Nygma during his college days, someone who might be able to tell us just how it would be possible for someone to sabotage it."

"I do believe, sir, that there is another scientist on the research team," said Alfred as he brought the page down to a picture of Edward Nygma standing next to a beautiful woman with glasses on and brown hair. "A Ms. Ilene Dorson, who is currently the head of the lab in Gotham University, if I'm not mistaken, sir."

"Perhaps she'll have the answers I need," said Batman as he started to put his mask on and walked over to the Batmobile as it lay, a huge hulking mass of tank and car mixed together. "Maybe once this is all over the Riddler can finally reform and I'll have one less person to worry about."

* * *

"So do you always keep laptops in your secret lairs stockpiled in some secret compartment," asked Grace as she watched as the Riddler continued to hack into Gotham main frame for anything about the Riddler. He had so far recovered his name, Edward Nygma, and had been getting his whole history back throughout the strings of his criminal record, tracking his movements and motivation through each one.

"I find that it helps sometimes when I think ahead for any emergencies," replied Nygma as he started to look up his real name for any records and his face buzzed with a wave of activity as the computer brought up multiple scientific achievements. His caught onto a headline from a newspaper. "Well, well, what do we have here? 'Famous prodigy nearly kills his professor."

"I remember that incident from the news in Metropolis," said Grace as she peeked out from behind the kitchen door. "You were supposed to be making some advanced chip to help the mind's ability to remember, but it went wrong and nearly killed the professor. Last I heard they were going to press charges against you so you disappeared and reappeared as the Riddler."

A good piece of his memory fell into his lap as he started to look up his main reason for becoming the Riddler, the vengeance that he had tried to enact. The first victim that he popped up was a business man named Rockridge who he had remembered to be interested in getting his hands on the chip technology. Then he looked up the next victim as one professor, who he had in the lab to work with him, but this one faced the same problem that Rockridge had, neither victim had any background in computer chip technology. He would have to do some thinking on this matter, a deeper questioning that was far greater than the way that he had been doing so far. Someone had betrayed him and this revenge was long overdue.

* * *

Ilene Dorson was a woman who had a habit of working late on her research as she tried to look further at the chips uncovered by the police at the scene of the Napier crimes. It was very similar to the ones made by her lab partner, Edward Nygma, the original genius of the chip and now the missing piece to the puzzle. Her own abilities only went so far as she couldn't do anything without the genius of Nygma, but she would still try to work on it until they finally found him. That was the reason why she was up at night trying to look at the data computed form the chip through the highly encrypted channels that Nygma had put up to make sure it could never be duplicated. Looking up at the clock she saw that it was 2:30 in the morning with no sign of any success to be found in the encoding of the chip so she walked to get some coffee to keep her awake long enough for her to see at least a hint that it was working.

As she got up she noticed that the window was open in the coffee room when she was certain that she had closed it. Cautiously, Ilene walked to go lock up the door when a hand grabbed her arm in a manner that was similar to a cop's grip. She turned to look at a figure dressed in what looked like black armor that was padded similar to Kevlar but with different reinforcement almost like different patches. The armor was adorned with a chest plate in the shape of a bat. The hand that grabbed her was a menacing black glove that was similar to a gauntlet and had what appeared to be small fins sticking out of the forearm part. The face was disguised under a pure black mask that was smooth and shiny indicating the hard shape of it.

"I need to ask you some questions about your work with Nygma," said the figure as he started to step out of the darkness to reveal his full form. His voice was a harsh rasp that sounded like a menacing demon. "You worked with him during that time and you were also very close to him from what the others said. You'd know more than anyone who he was going for."

"I don't know anything of what happened except that he always believed that someone had sabotaged our experiment," replied Ilene as she started to back away from him in a bit of terror. "The only person I could imagine him going after, if any, would be Napier so as long as you have him locked up in there, Edward is sure to come for him."

"What makes you so sure it was Napier who did it," asked the figure as he looked at her and she slowly crumbled away under the pressure. "Napier would never have the ability to do anything like that and that only leaves you, a person who knows the schematics well enough to sabotage it. The only thing I don't know is why. You two got along and were very close."

"It was true we were very close and he did come to me with an engagement ring," admitted Ilene as she started to slowly back away. "But then I saw how he was so obsessed that he would throw away our chance to profit from all the research and years of work that it took to make just one prototype. For years I had tried to get my name for something worthwhile and then live comfortably off of it, but I could see Edward slowly pushing into the tide until it was lost into the sea of his obsession. With him gone all I had to do was encrypt it, but I never counted on him being so careful so that his precious research wasn't taken."

"I'm going to ask you to turn yourself into the police, for your own safety," said the figure as he let go of her arm. "If his obsession is revenge then you better be careful and you can't be protected in a place that's wired with technology for him to use."

"I don't know if I can," said Ilene as she started to draw a gun on figure. "My employer cannot allow me to be taken into police custody."

"Did this employer make you sabotage the experiment," asked the figure as he started walking forward, each step getting him closer to the panicky Ilene. "Who are you working for?"

* * *

The men were tied down with rope as they were left to hang on the lamp post as the laughing man left them to hang while taking the money out with his oddly dressed assistant holding a gun on the driver. A simple bank robbery was never what the Joker planned out; it was just an impulse gig that happened as soon as he saw that truck rearing its head around the corner. Whether or not the gun in his hand was real or a fake one, the cops didn't want to find out or to find out what his backup defense was. With the Joker, it was unsure whether he would kill you at the slightest distaste or if he would just kill you regardless of how well you been. Panic and fear were on the faces of the bank truck drivers that were just food for his insanity as he felt something very good slip into his gut as he felt a fit of laughter rising. It was the catch of dealing with the Joker, he would either shoot you as soon as look at you or give you that creepy smile from his Joker venom. The pale faced man traced the Chelsea Smile with his finger (A/N: By now you know that I'm sort of taking stuff from Nolan films. I like the mixture of some things) as he tried to think of what to do with the guards.

"I could just hit them with the venom and leave them or kill them," mused Joker as he started to pace around and then looked at something that wasn't there. He started to move his finger around in a curious manner before pulling out his gun. "It's kind of boring to just shoot them, but I have people to kill and places to blow up."

"How about neither," said a grim voice as a figure in a dark blue suit jumped out with a dark blue domino mask on.

"Oh, Nightwing, you know I could have sworn I killed your predecessor," said the Joker as he pointed the gun at the hero only to feel the sting of a Wing-Ding hitting the gun out of his hand. "Ah so you have some tricks up your sleeve to, how come you didn't use those when you tried to kill me? Wait correction, you did kill me and Big Daddy brought me back. Isn't hard having someone watch over your shoulder to always correct those little mistakes that you make?"

"Your tricks have gotten a bit tiring," said Nightwing as he threw a punch at the Joker, but the Joker, in his usual fashion, did a whimsical ballerina twirl to move out of the way of the punch before throwing one of his own.

Nightwing was forced back right into the awaiting mallet of Harley Quinn, who was waiting for her boss to set him up for the knockout. Dick was sent sprawling to the floor as the Joker started to contemplate what to do this time since he always wanted each "gag" to be different in order to keep the 

grand joke of things. Harley was an impatient one who often thought that a simple bullet would solve the problem, but that was something that Joker could not have when killing someone very close to the Batman. He had to draw it out into a production of some sort with over dramatized action as was related to his own fashion, that is how he had to have things or else things did not get done at all. Of course this was often the reason why things didn't get done the right way in the first place, but if anyone ever questioned the Joker besides Batman then their chances of death would increase.

"Now this bird isn't that hard to skin, of course that was never the problem," said the Joker as he crouched down to where Nightwing was lying. "The problem here is how to skin the bird in a way that would give us the bigger laugh and continue the gag."

"The only thing going to be skinned tonight is your hide," said a raspy voice from behind him as strong hands grabbed him by the collar and flung him into a wall. "So you managed to get out of Arkham again and now what is your scheme?"

"Oh Batman, you seem to think too much of me," said Joker as he tried to act bashful in a mocking way. "And too little of me at the same time, for its always easy for me to get out of Arkham. But right now I don't have a big plan as I've been spending most of my time trying to figure out what I haven't done already. Then one of your kids shows up and presents me with the decision of how to kill him, but yet once again I have no clue on how I do that. So from now until I figure out something I plan to just improvise as all the greatest comedians do."

"He's right about that," said a very seductive and feminine voice from right behind him as a prowler stepped out of the shadows to reveal the feminine form of Catwoman standing in the shadows of the alley. "Right now he might not be the biggest threat as it seems that there has been a big break in Arkham, releasing the high level cells."

"What, that was the next plan that I had," said Joker in a slightly disappointed manner before regaining his very cheerful composure. "Well I suppose this is a sign that it wasn't a good enough scheme if I didn't think of it."

"You're not doing anything, except going straight to Arkham," shot Batman as he set his glare on the Joker and then pointed at Harley, who was trying to ease away very carefully. "And don't you even think about trying to run because that will only make it worse."

"Ouch, did you have to give him his extra dose of grouchy," asked Joker before being slugged by Batman. "The crowds at Gotham have not lost their harsh criticism I see. Well that's a good sign! Just gives me more of a challenge to make them laugh!"

* * *

Author's Note: Well this is the first chapter to this fan fic that i hope to do well on this even though my ideas are kind of bouncing from the movie verse to the comic book universe. Please review.


	2. Chapter 2

Old Acquaintances

Disclaimer: I do not own Batman, either the comics, the movies, or the cartoons.

* * *

Barbara Gordon, or Oracle as she called herself, was taking another look through the net to see if there was anywhere in the net that Nygma was lurking. It was a bit of a step off, but she thought she could see if she hacked into the mainframe of Gotham, maybe he was trying to hack into the bank accounts. While there was no activity in that area she did find that there had been some activity, recent activity, in the archives of the Rogues, most notably the file that was dedicated to the Riddler. Though it seemed odd for the criminal to be risking his security hacking into the mainframe just to look up his record, Oracle checked it anyway, trying to find a possible link. The location turned out to be a coffee shop that was located near a construction site that used to be a chemical corporation until Batman shut it down. That was during the days when she was Batgirl and it was also the day she committed the worst act of her life as a crime fighter. The details were still permanently etched into the back of her mind like hieroglyphs.

**Flashback Begins **

_"I can see the men bursting in the side door," said Barbara on the bat-com that was placed inside her mask so that she could keep up contact between the other two team mates. _

_"Understood, proceed to enter the building and take out anyone suspicious," said Batman over the com. _

_"Alright then, let's see if that girl is anywhere around here," said Barbara as she remembered the girl that was kidnapped the night before by the group in order to provide leverage for the crew's negotiations with the company. "Don't worry sweetie, I'm coming for you." _

_She flipped off the building while managing to shoot of one of the grappling hooks to help her swing onto one of the higher levels in the building. The mechanic for starting an engagement was stealth and its purpose was fear, a weapon that Batman used against his foes in order to make them sloppy, well the normal ones anyway. She quietly started to walk across the scaffolding until she was right above her targets and waited until Batman gave a sign for attack. From the way things looked it seemed like the crooks were already getting down to the shooting part with the guns they were carrying around the girl. Most carried MP5s with a M9 while the regular guards were carrying G6s. It was not a good sign for the state of things. _

_"Alright then bring the girl over here," said the leader of the guards as he stepped forward to reveal a well dressed man with black hair with white in the front. He was dressed in dress clothes, black slacks, black vest, white dress shirt, black dress shoes, and a pair of leather gloves to top it off. _

_"You're a smart man, Mr. Blade," said the leader of the thugs as he brought the girl forward and the other leader brought a case out filled with money. "Now then throw it over here." _

_"No, we'll bring it right to the center, both of us," declared Mr. Blade as he started to walk to the center with the case and the other leader did the same with the girl. "When you started working for the environment, did you plan on taking little girl's hostage for money?" _

_"You're just in this because you were hired to, it's not like it's your daughter anyway," said the thug as he walked back to his side and then slipped a gun from his hand as he turned around to aim at the other man. "Besides how else could we get you out in the open for us to give you a proposition? We would like, for the benefit of the safety of your wife, to help us by stealing all documents that would show that this company is responsible for dumping sludge." _

_"For kidnapping the girl, I'm going to have to erase you right now," said the mysterious Mr. Blade as he started to stretch a wire out and then dashed right at the man to cut his arm off with one of the wires. "For the fact that you had the arrogance to target my wife I'm going to make your death linger out." _

_An object flew right past his ear as he felt one of the stings of the bat-shuriken that were used mostly as a distraction. Before anyone knew what was happening, a few men from each side went missing all of a sudden leaving their screams following them. With the showing of a sign to act, Barbara dropped down and did the only thing that she could think of which was to kick Mr. Blade down. The supposed mercenary moved right of the way and brought the other person forward before he readied himself for battle with a stance that was similar to a form of kung fu except the wire was stretched out in his hand. His face had a look that expressed no emotion except for boredom, he was some assuming asshole who thought that he could take her because she was a girl. _

_"I have no wish to cut off any of your limbs so I don't think it would be wise for you to try and fight me," said Mr. Blade as he started to stalk his enemy only to have a batarang cut right through his wire. _

_"Looks like you're going to have some problems of your own," said Batgirl as she brought her foot up to kick him, but he instead moved right under it and hit her in the side of the leg she was using to support herself, causing her to fall back. _

_"I'm not here to play games with anyone and if you'll excuse me I have other things to attend to," said Mr. Blade as he started to walk off towards the one thug that was trying to escape, a boy of only 17 years of age. It didn't matter to the mercenary who was already taking out a new thread of wire to use as a torturing device. "Now then, if you would be so kind as to give me the information as to where my wife's location is then I believe that I might be able to let you get off lightly." _

_"I don't know anything about any of it, I just meet up at the hideout," cried the frightened boy as he started to back away, but he was held down by Mr. Blade's foot on his chest. Gone was the calm persona and now there was a very perturbed look on Mr. Blade's face. Tears were forming at the boy's eyes. "I don't remember where the hideout is!" _

_"That's not good enough for you to just say you don't know after you do the dumbest thing you could have ever done," said Mr. Blade in a voice that was as terrifying as Batman's. "You took my wife, kidnapped her, and that is something that you have to pay for. Now you're going to pay and not a god damn thing can stop that, but if you give me what I want then your punishment will be far less severe than I'm going to give the other members." _

_"Leave him alone you psychopath," shouted Batgirl as she threw a batarang right through his wire and right into the boiler that was right next to him spewing steam right into his face to disorient him. "I'm going to take you down right now!" _

_Batgirl proceeded to kick him right in the back to send him forward into the railing, only to have him use it as a catalyst to do a back kick right into her stomach before swinging right back onto the railing. His next move was a spin kick that Barbara managed to dodge and then delivered a punch right in his groin that had him howling in apin when he crashed to the ground. As he got up she was already into the fight, knocking him around like she were Batman himself before he managed to grab her fist and pull her forward to knee her in the stomach. He then started to smack her around before kicking her back in anger with footsteps that were like the loud thud of a stomp. _

_"You should have never interfered with my affairs," said the pissed off mercenary as he grabbed her by the head and raised his hand only to catch a glimpse that the person he wanted was about to get away. Deciding that getting information on his wife was more important, he brought his hand up while cranking the wire mechanism that he used to shoot out wire for combat. Knowing that this would be her _

_chance to stop him and not caring the repercussions of it, Barbara grabbed his arm and brought it down to where his leg was so that when it shot out the wire cut straight through his right leg. In the moment of shock she kicked him over so that he fell off the railing down onto one of the machines before she realized what she had done. _

_"Oh god no," gasped Barbara as she looked over to see the barely living mercenary sprawled out on the floor with a look of disbelief on his face._

**Flashback Ends**

Barbara remembered that incident all too well as she had to live with the mistake of paralyzing the guy and then losing the only lead to his wife. If it wasn't for the picture in his wallet the woman might have never been found, but thankfully the circulated picture allowed them to get information from a neighbor who had been living next to the place. The damage was done though as the mercenary went missing from the hospital after being told that he would never walk again and had never been seen before. That was the one cold case that was wrapped around in her head for so long before she was snapped out of her thoughts by a sudden email that was sent to her from the Batcave. She quickly brought up the massive emails for the other operatives, but she as soon as she saw it she only decided to notify Helena, Dick, Cassandra, and Tim about the email that she received. They all arrived at the same time that Bruce did.

"So what's the news," said Dick as he walked in with his costume on just like everyone else.

"Not my place to say, wasn't my message," replied Barbara as she looked towards Bruce who was standing next to a flirtatious Catwoman. "But I suppose if Bruce is too busy playing tonsil hockey with Selina then I can provide the answer."

"There has been a break in Arkham letting out the entire top Rogue Gallery members on Gotham," said Bruce as he looked at the members who were around him. "Right now we need to stop focusing on the Riddler and look on to the Arkham breaking, I've already called in Question and Batwoman to look into who started the break in and whether it was an outside job or not. Right now the Joker is in Arkham so I need someone to keep a tab on him."

"I can have a friend check on him if you really want to," offered Barbara as she started to type onto her laptop to contact one of the many spies who owed her a favor.

"I'm going to look for Nygma if I can," said Nightwing as he started to walk off, but he was surprised to find that someone else was in his way, Tim Drake. "What are you doing?"

"You and I both know that it is a waste of time," said Tim point flat as he looked at his "older brother" with a very serious look. "The Riddler is only found when we are given clues of where he is or he happens to have a run of bad luck. Right now we have a bigger problem that is beyond your own guilt to see that we're all needed now more than ever."

"He's right Dick, even if you try to refute it, you can't deny that he's right," said Barbara as she looked at him, reminding the two of the relationship they once had. "Please make the right decision."

"I'm not giving up on my search, but I can look for multiple targets," said Dick as he started to walk out of the room.

"Selina and I will go tracking some of the old stomping grounds," said Bruce as he opened the window.

"Okay I'll be coming soon," said Selina as she turned while adjusting her gear only to see that he was gone. "I hate it when he does that."

* * *

There was no clock in the heavily padded room that Joker was being held in so he could not tell how much time had passed. From the fact that it looked like it was already morning he guessed five hours since it had been two in the morning when he was captured by Batman and Catwoman. He checked the restraints of the straight jacket that he had been put into before starting to pull his arm out of place so he could gain enough maneuverability to get out of the straight jacket. With the sickening sound of a pop came another sound, like heavy shoes on the ground outside with the dropping of bodies. He looked up to the door to see it opening to reveal a man dressed in very businesslike clothing with a fedora on and mask covering most of his face. The man walked over to him and undid the key on the straight jacket before holding out a set of Joker's clothing in a plastic dry cleaning bag.

"He is very useful," said a voice as a man dressed in a green suit walked into the room with a cane that was shaped like a question mark. "You know it wasn't easy finding him, but now I can see that for talent like his, he's well worth it."

"Well then why would you be busting me out of jail like this," asked Joker as he started to put on his regular clothing.

"It seems that someone busted everyone out of jail, but seemed to miss you," said Riddler as he twirled his cane in his head before pointing at the window. "The person who did this is someone I happen to have a grudge with at the moment for personal reasons, but I thought that you'd be too important in the matter to leave you out so I decided that with the wild card being let loose I could force this shadow player to show his hand."

"Not many people would let me out like that you know," said Joker as he looked at the Riddler strangely, but the Riddler just smiled.

"Exactly why I let you out, because the only thing that can trump his aces is the Joker no one can play," replied the Riddler before he started to point towards the strange man. "Since you would no doubt be trying to drive Batman over the edge I'd thought you'd like him to keep the children out of the way or to get him angry."

"Maybe if he could cause a break in communication by finding out whomever's in charge of that information gathering," said Joker as he looked at the stranger. "Do you know who is doing the information?"

"I've been able to track down the most likely lead and if you want I can strike tonight," said the stranger as he started to check his watch. "Right now it's too dark for any of the players to come out, but I can still attack the target. Everything is set out all I need is to get a message out which I have already constructed myself."

"And what would that be pray tell," asked the Joker.

"The same message you gave Batman when you killed Jason Todd."

* * *

Barbara was wheeling to the Birds of Prey headquarters when she stopped at the sight that greeted her when she got there. A gasp left her mouth as she stared in complete shock at the chained up bodies of Wildcat, Creote, and Savant, all severely beaten with hints of cuts marks on them. Creote was in the middle with a note on his chest saying, "Beware, I live." Helena immediately started to call an ambulance while Barbara was too shocked to do anything.


	3. Chapter 3

Nemesis

Disclaimer: I do not own Batman or the movies.

* * *

Helena had seen Barbara worried before, it was when Batman was fighting Black mask and she was worried that he might actually go so far as to actually kill one of his enemies. Now Barbara was worried about the person that was targeting their operatives and was doing it with the upmost professionalism, even going so far as to hack all camera feeds that would show the bodies being dumped. All that was left was a phrase that didn't seem to have any meaning to anyone, but despite this, Barbara was going to give a background check to see if any matches could be picked up on the internet. This was a new thing for her because never had anyone ever directly targeted the Birds in such a way as to go up to their own base of operations and chain up the bodies of two of their operatives. The building itself was closed down with police investigating the different criminals who had broken loose, but so far no one matched any of the possibilities.

"This is just absolutely great, beautiful," cursed Babara as she sighed in frustration at the results from the internet. "I've done five searches on five different search engines and all I can get is this video game called Sinastar, which doesn't match any of the known escapees from Arkham."

"What are they doing next door," asked Helena, a.k.a. Huntress, as she looked out at the building that was right beside them with a bit of industrial rot as there was some decay in the walls of the building. "I can see a few men up there when there usually isn't anyone there."

"The owner thought to bring in some people to fix the place up, as if two people can do that," replied the woman who called herself Oracle as she did the sixth check and then looked on whatever hacked the camera.

"Yeah but the fact that he's doing now is suspicious," said Huntress as she looked at the different numbers for operatives that was on the computer. "I think I should send in one of our operatives, Misfit is still in the area."

"Well you can send her to check it out, but nothing too serious," said Barbara as she started tapping into the video feed to trace the hacker to the computer they used. "Misfit's always in the area, but this seems like something low key so it should keep her from the more dangerous activities out there."

"You can't baby forever Barbara, someone is gonna have to let her play with the big girls," reminded Huntress, but Barbara was too busy notifying Misfit of the activity next door. "Sometimes you have to blame the father figures in her life."

* * *

"Are the disk drives good for downloading," asked the masked man as he sat back in his chair with his right ankle resting on his left thigh.

"Drives are almost done but the reloading is gonna a real pain just so you know," said the techie as he started to pick up the feed from inside the headquarters of the Birds of Prey. "We should be ready to log into their channels as soon as they are done and it seems like she's going after that old passage to the computer. I can re-route her to the other computer if you need me to."

"Don't bother it won't work on this one," said the masked stranger as he got up and started to stretch out.

"Well then what do we have here," said a young feminine voice from behind the group of men as they turned around to see a red haired girl in an outfit that was like Batgirl's except with a blue chest 

and a denim skirt. "You don't seem to be doing repairs here, in fact it looks more like you're planning on doing some bad things with that masked face of yours."

"Sorry there are no children allowed here, I'm going to ask you to leave," said the masked figure as he started to remove his trench coat to reveal a black combat outfit that was often used by special ops forces.

"The name's Misfit," replied the girl as she started to run and then teleported forward to thrust her foot into the masked stranger's stomach. To her surprise he caught it in an iron grip. "I could teleport you and me some place, but I don't think you'd survive handsome."

"Honor codes of heroes prevent that from happening," said the masked stranger as he threw her into a wall and then threw a punch behind him so he could catch her in the face with a mighty punch when she tried to teleport right behind him. "You are proficient for your age in the area of strength, but as Deathscythe, I am superior."

Before Misfit knew what was going on he was punching her into a wall, his fists leaving bruises that would heal in a second, but damn did hurt. This was one of those tough fights that she was told she'd be in, one where it seems like she has no chance of winning until the bad guy showed his one weakness. Only this one wasn't giving her a chance to find that out as he pounded her into the wall and then let her fall down in pain. He was brutal, calculating, knowing which way to strike to elicit the most pain from his victims and that is what made him the toughest opponent she had ever had.

"This is where I get that lucky break," said Misfit as she crawled towards one of the desks.

"Sorry kid, but life is nothing like the movies look up Jason Todd and you'll see," said the masked figure who called himself Deathscythe. In his hand was a large scythe that was adorned with what 

looked like a devil's wing and at the bottom of the stick there was a skull. He raised it right into the air above his head before he felt a force grab the scythe by the blade and toss him into one of the walls.

"Good thing I like comics better," said the crime fighter known as Huntress in a fighting position as the henchmen lay in various parts around the room in pain.

"You know I find the best way to behead a bird isn't to use the scythe at the beginning," said Deathscythe as he started to stretch bring his hands together and then stretched it out to reveal gleaming razor wire. "You see the first method is to cut the wings off the bird and to me there is nothing more preferable than the use of Kevlar wires. When thrown at high velocity they are able to cut through most metals and can even cut the toughest of skins. Even at a normal speed, like say if I had wrapped them around someone and just so happened to pull on them in slightest possible way then my victims would be cut limb from limb."

"You should see a shrink about that, I think you might be a sadist," said huntress as she lunged forward with a might punch that her opponent seemed to side step. "You seem to be well verse in combat, no wonder you were able to beat misfit."

"Not just combat, but my strength is very great despite my stature," replied Deathscythe as he jumped up over the punch and then kicked her into the wall. "I've trained myself to be the best in everything that I do."

He then started to move to the side very quickly, side dashing in a zig-zag pattern as if to throw her off, but before he could do such a thing she punched the ground so that it started to cave in just as he was about to attack. The loss of footing caused him to go off-balance, but he instantly corrected himself by balling up and then let himself roll onto a table. Huntress was immediately on him with a fist that went right through the table and then she picked up the table to throw it at him. Not bothering to simply dodge the table, Deathscythe sent his wire out to cut the table in half, sending both side to opposite sides of him and then proceeded to throw a few quick jabs at the super heroine. The grace at which he moved his feet caused him to move a quick and fluid manner that was almost hard to dodge as he would attack in a strange ragdoll progression. What was really tricky was when he allowed his body to stiffen up so that his punches would be more concrete than before.

To take away the advantage of footwork, Huntress started working on attacking his knees so as to keep him on the defensive position, but this was tricky as his ragdoll abilities made him able to counterattack with ease. Whoever he was, he had done well in learning all methods of attack. With a power kick, Huntress managed to send him sprawling into a wall before starting to punch him repeatedly. She grabbed him by the arm and proceeded to throw him towards a washing machine before he grabbed her wrist and used concentrated applying of force to toss her instead. The move had caught her off guard so she was unable to prevent herself from hitting the washing machine, but she did well to recover instantly. Before she could make another move she felt a blunt force to her neck as Deathscythe brought his elbow to her neck, knocking her out.

"You do well at fighting for someone so young," said Deathscythe as he kneeled down towards her. "I suppose that is the reason why I am sparing your life and the life of that other girl, but as to your boss, well some grudges just never die down. In the mean time, have pleasant dreams because it's going to be one hell of a rude awakening."

* * *

The coin flipped up, spinning in the air before landing back into the hand of its owner, a man with half of a handsome face and the other half was a acid scarred face that struck terror into many people. It was hard to believe that the man who was robbing the Double Life Lounge was a man who had once been the District Attorney of Gotham. Just one look at Harvey Dent could clue one into the 

fact that he had a story to tell someone, but no one would dare ask him his story because of the unpopularity of bad endings. Though probably the second most psychotic individual of the group, Two-Face had a method to his madness that was fairer than the methods of any other Rogue. Good side you live, bad side you're dead, and that was the way things worked with Two-Face. That had to be the reason why Batman preferred his former ally to all the other Rogue's who tried to kill him, he at least would let people live. The dark knight also knew that somewhere inside of that monster was still the soul of Harvey dent, Gotham's star D. A.

"We better get out of here before Batman shows up here boss," said one of his latest henchmen who was wearing a black suite. Half of them wore black the other half wore white, the duality of their boss's nature extended to everything, including the fashion sense of his henchmen.

"You idiots, if he was coming he'd already be here, that's something that never changes," said Two-Face in his dark and raspy voice that had become the terrifying to all of Gotham. "Search out and find him, but only two of you, I don't want the rest to continue bagging the cash."

"Yes boss," replied the unintelligent henchmen as they went to bagging the cash while two went off to look for the dark knight.

"He's probably too busy looking out for the more dangerous villains," said Two-Face as he started flipping his coin to keep himself calm. Two-Face wasn't exactly scared of Batman, but then again it never hurt to be careful, especially since Arkham wasn't the best place to be. "If he does come then I'm sure you lot can take him since you all are supposed to be the best thugs around."

A scream rang out in the dark of the lounge from one of the private rooms where entertainment of various sorts could be acquired. It was like a trumpet announcing the coming of the Batman, the scream of a thug be grabbed and beaten into submission by a giant bat. Most of the people that were tied up were looking hopeful as the hero was near, but the thugs were shaking in their shoes. One of the thugs started to get full of himself as he walked towards the room with his gun in hand ready to shoot who he needed to, but before he could bring his gun to aim something stung his hand bad enough for him to drop the gun. Lying at his feet was a golden thick thin piece of metal made in the same idea of a shuriken and in the shape of a bat. Before the thug knew what was happening he was being pulled forward while a knee hit him right in the gut and caused him to grunt in pain. There was a blur of black as he was thrown hard into a chair and before he blacked out he could see the Batman walking towards the group.

"Well what are you waiting for, gang up on him," barked Two-Face as he motioned for the other thugs to join in, but as soon as they started to draw their guns a whistling sound echoed through the room as each of the ceiling lights was knocked out and the room was left in darkness.

The fight ended quickly as Batman jumped towards the first man and tackled him before separately punching and kicking the other men around him. One thug through a punch right at him, but the darkness made it easy for him to grab the arm and then flip the thug right onto another who was trying to charge in and knock Batman down. Batman kicked one in the stomach before grabbing him by the hand and pulling him up to knock him out with a punch. The last thug was trying to run away when Batman threw one of his bata-rangs to knock him out. It had seemed like everything was over when the lights cut on and Batman was staring at a gun toting Two-Face.

"You may have beaten them, but you failed to get me," said Two-Face as he pointed the gun at Batman with his coin in the other hand. "I think you still deserve a fifty-fifty chance so I'll flip it. If it lands on the bad side I'll kill you, but if you get the good side then I'll only blow your knee caps off."

"How about we play my game," said a seductive feminine voice as a whip cracked down onto the hand of Two-Face, sending his weapon sliding to the ground. "You're lucky I don't keep score or else you'd owe me a lot."

"That is true, catwoman," said Batman as he smirked at her and then proceeded to subdue Two-Face.


	4. Chapter 4

Death Scythe Hell

Disclaimer: I do not own Batman

* * *

The tall dark figure stood over the cowering woman as she looked into the eyes of a sadist with a form that was tall, dark and grim. A wide brimmed hat worn over a gangly burlap sack that had been cut and even had black rotten teeth sown into it with a noose around the neck to create the grim image of a figure of the nightmare realm, a scarecrow. That was his name after all, Scarecrow, the infamous villain who looked like a hangman come back from the dead to terrorize people and he was now looking to terrorize Seras Penbridge, the person who currently teaching his department at Gotham University. Most of the people around her were already cowering in fear from the fear toxins that had been released upon them in a form that caused them to have nightmares. It was something that had been studied for some time and it was his obsession, the affect that fear had on the mind. His sadistic habits were taken with fear because of his tall, lanky, grim form looking like a living scarecrow and because of his lack of great physical strength so that the intimidation was his greatest weapon.

"Well now, what will I do to you," said Scarecrow in a very deep, raspy voice as he reached down and grabbed Seras by the throat. "What is your greatest fear, I wonder. Perhaps I should use individual phobias and see which one strikes the best chord, but then the question comes up to which one to use first. Spiders, how about spiders crawling all over your body?"

"You sick freak," shrieked the woman as she tried to back away but found that she couldn't get away from the figure above her as she breathed in the fear toxin. They were all over her, millions of spiders running around all over her body, their hairy legs were going up her arms as they scurried around. "OH GOD GET THEM OFF ME!"

"Well I can sense that it isn't your greatest fear but now I'm very interested in how you respond to the others," said Scarecrow as he started to reach for his bag of fear toxins only to find them gone. "Men prepare yourselves, the Batman is near."

"Correction, I'm already here," said a dark figure as it dropped from a high ledge to the ground between the Scarecrow and his men. "You're going back to Arkham, Crane."

"Well what are you waiting you fools, get him," commanded Scarecrow as he started to run away.

The thugs ran in for Batman, both carrying bats and pipes that had been lying around the place. With quickness, Batman reached out and grabbed the first bat that was swung at him, catching it in his palm while pulling the thug in for a punch to the jaw. A thug rushed in with bat in hand before being kicked back with a power kick to the side and then jumped over the tackle of another thug.

The next attacker was a big, chubby man with a Hitler mustache on his face dressed in a brown leather jacket with a white undershirt underneath and blue jeans. His shoes were a pair of brown boot like shoes that had probably been on sale at some cheap shoe store with a drying bit of a blood on the tip. Everything about this guy was horrible, even his white shirt had a stain of use on the collar and reeked of sweaty musk. As the man drew closer to try and get a good punch on Batman he found himself tripping over on his face with a whip wrapped around his ankles.

"I could have taken him Catwoman," said Batman as he seemed a bit irked at having his opponent handled for him when he was easily capable of dealing with it. "Besides we should worry about where Scarecrow is right now."

"Oh that sadist could be anywhere right now, but then again he might be waiting out in the shadows," replied Catwoman in a passive manner and then she caught sight of something that made her immediately want to beat Scarecrow half to death. She caught sight of Seras Penbridge frothing at the mouth in terror, weak and vulnerable for any predator. "That low life prick!"

"Sticks and stones may break my bones but that's comfy to what is going to happen to you," said Scarecrow as he gassed Catwoman with one of his concentrated "pure" fear toxins that brought out a person's worst fear before them. All the other stuff was just a slow method of torture that he loved to exact on people and he wished he could do that with every person, but there just wasn't enough time.

"Catwoman," called Batman as he ran towards her with his arms held out and caught as she fell back into his arms with convulsions of fear.

"You have a choice Batman, save your pet or catch me, you can't do both," said Scarecrow as he started to back away into a door. "That is a concentrated dose of my fear toxin, the mind can only take so much and soon her mind will be destroyed from the dosage."

Scarecrow immediately tossed the canister of fear gas that he used, knowing full well that some Rogues would make it tough for him if he made Catwoman a drooling mass of beauty and Batman would crucify him. Joker would most likely kill him for doing something to cause Batman to go insane as the Joker had taken it on as his own mission in life and he would probably be helped by Bane who was once interested in her and still harbored some interest.

Scarecrow immediately flung himself down the stairwell, shooting out one arm to catch a rail bar in a ragdoll fashion that his long limbs had made him use to. A grin was on the face of Jonathan Crane, the man behind the mask who loved the way he tortured people and was the victim of bullying and child abuse. Crane made his run across the long yard of the cemetery only to be knocked over by what appeared to be a small boy. Snarling, Crane got up to his feet in a flash and threw a punch before turning his body to the side a bit and spinning around to deliver a punch to the face of what appeared to 

be a Robin only this one was different. This one was adorned with a red robin tunic with a black combat suit underneath and a form of tights that were loosely fitted or appeared to be though there were signs of added padding. Most of the boy was clouded in a hooded cloak that was more like Batman than it was Robin.

"There is just no shortage to the little kids is there," snarled Scarecrow as he started to spray the toxins into his face, but the boy was quick to move back and then rebounded with a staff. Do to his long limbs Scarecrow was able to guide himself away from the attack and then responded with a flinging ragdoll punch.

This Robin did not speak much; instead he let his actions speak for themselves as he jumped over Jonathan Crane and proceeded to bash him in the back with his staff. Crane was knocked forward into the cemetery, but such a place was the perfect hiding place for the Scarecrow. He immediately started to fog up the area with his fear toxins making it impossible for the Robin to inhale even a two second breath of it. Indeed it did appear that the Robin was already convulsing with fear and trying to fight away some type of phantasm or phobia when the Scarecrow peeked out from behind the tombstone he was hiding behind.

A grin spread on the face of Jonathan Crane, but it did not meet the surface of the face of Scarecrow. Slowly the Scarecrow approached his prey with a discarded shovel in his hand and as he got closer he started to slowly raise the shovel, higher over his head as he waited till he got closer to bring it down on him. However, before the shovel even reached the Robin's head it was caught right in the palm of the Robin's hand while the other hand went right into the gut of Scarecrow.

"You little brat, I'll kill you," screamed Crane in his fury as he started to lash out with wild punches and kicks, all of which the Robin, who now was revealed to be wearing a gas mask, dodged easily before kicking the ground out from under him.

"You're too weak to kill me," replied the Robin in an emotionless tone while he raised his sword into the air in what looked like a moment of attack, but a black gloved hand wrapped around it.

"Do not kill anyone," scolded Batman as he looked at his son, Damien Wayne, with a scowl on his face.

"I was not going to kill him, merely take of his mask and leave him tied up for the authorities," replied Damien as he sheathed his sword before turning his attention to Batman. "He would intimidate the police officers with that mask on so by cutting off his mask I'd be able to show how human Scarecrow is underneath his mask."

"Is your mother in Gotham as well or is she somewhere else," asked Batman as he looked at Damien and then turned to Catwoman who was just recovering from the fear toxin's effects.

"No I came because mother has gone missing and I suspect that she has been brought here as bait," replied Damien as he looked at the Catwoman, knowing her only from the words that had been spoken about her from his mother. "Though not for you, for me, probably as an attempt to get control of the League of Shadows."

"From what you're telling me I think that it might have something to do with what has been going on lately," said Batman before turning to his son just as Damien was ripping the mask to reveal Crane's face. It might have worked had Crane not looked like a grim and scary figure himself. "I'll patch in a call to Oracle and see what information she can dig up on the matter while I'm putting you in charge of looking after Selina at the cave."

"Father that is grunt work, nothing like what I should really be doing," protested Damien in a manner that wasn't prideful, but full of wisdom.

"Right now someone is after you and since you'd be a target it would be best having you in my nest," replied Batman as he motioned towards a motorcycle with red and gold paint on it. "Use the Birdcycle, but don't get into a fight with Tim, Dick, or anyone else."

"Yes father," said Damien as he gave into the reason and obediently did as he was told as he wanted to get in the good grace of his father.

* * *

Barbara had her hands on the wooden sticks, ready to attack or defend as needed from the stranger who had walked in. He was a tall opposing figure dressed in full black combat uniform that was often used by the league of shadows except with more padding and the gloves were black leather instead of typical combat gloves. The figure's face was hidden behind a Guy Faux mask with a fedora over it. He looked like V from _V for Vendetta_.

"I don't know who you are but you just made a big mistake sneaking in here," declared Barbara as she waited for him to make the first move and added, "And I don't mean when Huntress and Misfit get here."

"Oh those two, I believe that I already left them beaten and bloody," laughed the figure as he started to remove his fedora revealing short black hair that had white in the front. "You know I've been waiting for this moment for a long time, dreaming of this moment when we would meet again, but I never thought we'd meet underneath these circumstances. I'd imagined you'd be Batgirl, but then again I guess it is a bit amusing to see you in a wheelchair, for that I must really thank the Joker."

"Excuse me, but do I know you," asked Barbara Gordon as she started to glare at the stranger who seemed to be lunatic, but he was evidently a strong lunatic to be able to beat both Misfit and Huntress.

"Oh that really wounds me," said the stranger in a tone of mock sadness. "I thought my voice would clue you in, but perhaps you remember faces better than words."

"Who are you," demanded Barbara before she saw the stranger take off his mask and then gaped in horror. "It's you!"


	5. Chapter 5

Haunting Past

Disclaimer: I do not own Batman, Batman is owned by DC.

* * *

Death Scythe, as he called himself, sat in his chair looking at the unconscious Barbara Gordon sitting in her chair while he took into close observation of her with the eyes of a cold hearted killer. He took a look at his watch to check the time, noting the time it took for himself to get back to Gotham, giving the person who was meeting him five hours to get to the place. The room he was in had very little lighting with the only lamination being the lamps that hung down, but only a few were working in selected places. There were so many places for Batman to hide that he was expecting him to pop out at any second with the long spots of dark that were practically begging the Dark Knight to step into them. From his previous go over of the entire place he knew that there weren't any traps and he didn't know if his employer as going to be bringing traps. While he was wrapped into his musings his captive woke up and proceeded to struggle with the ropes tied around her wrist.

"That's completely futile, I can hear you struggling with those," said Death Scythe as he walked to his chair and then sat down in it before crossing his legs. "Well you were very difficult to capture with those two sticks, but luckily I've kept up with my wire."

"How can you walk, I severe your spine and broke your legs," asked Barbara as she looked at the ghost from her past and noticed that he was reaching down to pull up one of his pant legs to reveal a metallic limb.

"I had my spine replaced by a new metal spin with metal bones so that now my skeleton will take a lot more damage than before and I will be able to get my revenge on you."

"You can't break my legs and it would be a waste to break my spine," declared Barbara as she decided to keep him occupied through talking so she would have time to slip out.

"That is not all I owe you or have you been repressing those memories," replied Death Scythe as he started to get out a notepad. "Okay then well here was a lot more damage done to me, an organ or two had to be replaced and more importantly, I lost my lead on where my wife and child were. By the time they were found my wife was dead and my child was on his way to slave rings in Columbian Cartel, but thankfully the plane was diverted by a group of mercenaries I hired. Though it seems Batman took the child into his custody and left him with another wealthy family to be raised while waiting for me to step out of the shadows to get him."

"You are a mercenary who is known for being comfortable with killing," argued Barbara in her mentor's defense, but Death Scythe only laughed at this.

"I have always been in legal action, even when I killed those men, they were trespassers and I was given leave to do whatever I wanted with them, even torture them so his actions are illegal. Now I could bring that up, but Batman would probably have me tied to something or try and argue me into jail. My business practices are all within my bounds, how about yours?"

"But nothing of this is legal, you kidnapped me and did illegal observation. There is no way you can also deny your involvement in some of the actions that have been going on because that mask you used was caught on tape."

"Go ahead and bring it to court, Barbara Gordon, then I'll bring my case and then your secret identity goes out all over the papers along with the identities of Batman. Do you honestly think that I have not considered every single element in this little plot, hell I even have an employer who is good at coming up with schemes. Now then why don't we stop pointing fingers and just have a nice and quiet chat until my employer gets here."

"Chatting time is done I guess," declared the Riddler as he walked into the room with henchmen standing right beside him carrying the trademark question mark guns. "Sorry that I'm late I had a Nightwing to deal with, those birds are always getting caught in my windshield."

"Did you check for a tracker," asked Death Scythe as he looked at his employer and Nigma only shrugged at him with a gesture that said that it didn't really matter.

"He is of no consequence, now what I really need you to do is to go to Wayne Manor," replied the Riddler as he picked himself up and then pulled out a key card. "I'm sure that Hush will be there to attack Selina and Batman's son, I need you to kill Hush as payback with advanced for what he did to me as well as favor for Joker."

"Wouldn't the Joker want to do it himself or does he have a special way that I should kill him," asked Death Scythe as he stretched out and then walked over to Barbara with his wire stretching out between his gloves.

"Break his spine and inject him with Joker Venom," replied the Riddler as he tossed him a syringe that was an illuminated green.

"As you wish, I'll kill Hush and see what else I can turn up," said Death Scythe as he started to walk off before turning to the henchman and adding, "if you touch her than you will be the envy of the dead."

* * *

"I hope that you heal well, I'd prefer not having to constantly baby-sit someone," said Damien as he walked out to the medical wing of Wayne manor to find Selina Kyle still resting in a bed. "You are surely healthy enough that you can get up and continue the fight if you pushed away all your cravings to give into sloth."

"First off don't talk to me as if you are an adult because you're still not old enough for me to pull over my knee and spank," threatened Selina as she turned to face him and then pointed to one of the computer. "Right now I have been looking into the Birds of Prey network, but I can't seem to get any signal to Barbara which means that someone is either hacking them, the most unlikely thing ever or there is a disturbance at the tower. I tried to get in touch with Dick to see if he could check it out, but it seems like he is no longer there so I have to send a message to everyone about it. So far only Tim has picked up on it while the rest of the operatives have not signed in."

"I see, it could be possible to ask someone from the League of Shadows to check it out," said Damien as he looked at the computer to find that there was a message there. "Wait it seems like you have a message that you have neglected to even look at."

"Swear to god kid, you're two seconds from being spanked," warned Catwoman as she checked her mail to turn back in shock. "Oh shit I have got to tell Bruce about this."

"That is unnecessary, I'll give it to him in person, after I'm through with you two," said a voice from behind them and they turned around to see a man in a long trench coat wearing a fedora with bandages covering his face and one arm was wrapped around Alfred's neck. The other hand held a gun that was pointed at Alfred's head. "I hope that you won't try anything or else Bruce will be looking for a new butler."

"Do you think that will stop me," said Damien as he threw a shuriken right into Hush's hand causing the villain to grunt a bit, but by sheer will, Hush was able to keep the gun in his hand as he turned it towards Damien.

"You have aim and speed, I'll give you that but I have a higher threshold for pain," said Hush as he pulled the hammer back, but just as he was about to pull the trigger he felt a tapping on his shoulder. He turned to look into the eyes of silver eyed man who had a slick mustache and black hair.

"Excuse me, how do you deal with this part of the brain," asked the man before he hit Hush with a crowbar repeatedly until Hush was collapsed on the ground. "You did well, ten hits, that's more than Jason Todd withstood before collapsing, though I don't think you'll come up as well as him."

The man then took out a syringe with a green liquid in it and injected it some into Hush's spine before putting it at the base of his neck. Immediately Hush started to break into a mad fit of laughter so violent that his bandages started to bleed as a showing of his stitches being torn from his laughter. The man started to hold Hush down, but was pushed off by a tremendous burst of strength from Hush and instantly picked up one of Hush's guns to aim at him. At that time Hush was trying to stumble out towards the window, but before he could reach it he was shot in the back by the man and fell through the window, plunging to the waters that the window over looked. The man turned to look at Damien as he stood over the butler with Selina and then turned to walk out.

* * *

Albert West found himself in the worse place that he could possibly be, standing in front of the most cold-blooded killer in Gotham City, literally. At his full height, Dr. Victor Freeze was tall man, but unlike Jonathan Crane, he was normal looking except for the pale blueish skin complexion that he had. Most would just shrug it aside as a man suffering from hypothermia; no one would fear Victor Freeze. But _Mr._ Freeze was a different story, for when he stepped into his advanced suit that regulated his body temperature, he was an intimidating goliath with a build that was enormous and frightening to say the least. Everyone would fear Mr. Freeze because he was a tough opponent and his freezing gun that was now built into his suit instead of being carried into a gun. As he looked on at the behemoth of a Rogue that stood before him, Albert found himself fighting for control of his bowel movement.

"Now then I believe you have the space diamonds that we're looking for," boomed Mr. Freeze as he picked up Albert, who wasn't that short, but compared to Mr. Freeze he was a child. "I do hope you won't make the same mistake as your friend just did and try to hit that alarm because I'd hate to leave him with no one to thaw him in the time length. He only has eleven minutes to thaw before the blood stops pumping and he freezes."

"Yes, it's in box 246," said the terrified Albert, his fear keeping him from stuttering. "I-it-t-t sh-sh-should be in that box."

"Well let's see if you're correct," said Freeze as he dropped Albert and started to walk towards the box marked 246, freezing it instantly so he could just smash the front of the box and reach in. "Well it seems that you're right after all, good job, you just might get some money out of this if you just be a good boy and sit there while I do business."

"Sorry but you don't have a license to conduct business," said Batman as he stepped out of the shadows in the room.

"What are you waiting for, ice him," ordered Freeze with a bark that sent his henchmen, all of whom were dressed up like Eskimos, stumbling towards Batman.

The first henchman was easily grabbed and hurled into the group, but all except two managed to duck under the attack and started to aim their guns. However, in the blink of an eye, they were all clutching their hands as they felt the sting of the batarang hitting the back of their hand. In anger, one of the nameless henchmen started to charge at Batman with his shoulder forward as if to tackle him, but Batman was easily able to jump over him and kicked him forward into the metal doorway of the vault. The next two decided to go at the same time, throwing punches wildly so that all Batman had to do was grab one and pull him forward to be punched before moving on to knock out the other with a quick blow the back of the neck.

The leader of the henchmen told the remaining men to surround Batman and pummel him with their fist. What he didn't take into account was Batman's ability to use the number of men to his advantage so he would use his wide attacks to take on most of the group while aiming one focused punch combo on one of the thugs. When one tried to kick him he grabbed the leg and pulled the thug into a punch. Before long Batman had succeeded in defeating all of the henchmen and was ready to take on the main course.

"You should never wear black in a room that's mostly metal, you stand out more," said Freeze as he lifted one arm with a glowing blue light surrounding it.

"And you should always remember that I have these," said Batman as he threw one of his heat batarangs onto Mr. Freeze with


	6. Chapter 6

Out of the Freezer and into the Fire

Disclaimer: I do not own Batman.

* * *

The cold air blew past his face as Batman dodged the blasts of ice that were coming out of the freeze gun that Mr. Freeze was using. It was hard for Batman to keep Freeze in his sights and also throw a batarang at the icy cold Rogue, but he managed to get a few in before being forced to duck for cover. At this point Freeze was panting from the heat that he was feeling pounding in his chest as he tried to maintain the low temperatures in his body, but it was getting harder by the second. Finally he saw the perfect move as Batman ducked into the dinosaur exhibit with a very large tyrannosaurus rex on display. Freeze raised his gun to fire a blast of ice right at the large bones of the T-rex causing it to fall down while also forcing Batman to jump out into the open for Freeze to hit with his ice blast. Just as Batman jumped out there was a crashing through the glass and Robin leapt through the window on his motorcycle as he aimed one of his birdarangs that was also installed with heating units on it. Right beside him was Batgirl with her batarangs with the same technology, but they aimed for different hands, hitting Freeze right in the wrist to disable his freezing technology. The suit, it would seem, was made to withstand more hits than what they were able to produce, but it did distract Freeze long enough for Batman to get close to him.

"The suns up," said Batman as he placed a heater on the suit and turned the notch up above fire, enough to send Freeze near a cardiac arrest. He then turned it off when Freeze was subdued and placed a jammer on Freeze's suit so that it would only refrigerate him. "That should keep you alive long enough for the police to get you back to Arkham , freeze."

"Wow, he seemed to be doing better than usual," noted Robin as he took a look at Freeze and then at batman. "Maybe you're too tired; you have been fighting a lot."

"The sun's almost up so we'll call it a night, but be ready to fight soon," said Batman as he started to walk back to the Batmobile.

* * *

"I still don't see how he could have gotten inside," said Alfred as he checked the different parts of the security system for any type of hacking that would have let Hush get in. "From what I can tell it seems that one of our cameras stopped working for thirty seconds to allow Hush to get inside and from there he started moving through blind spots. My only problem is that Hush lacks the resources for such a thing and this man seemed just completely invisible to the cameras which also take in any electronic waves to detect cloaking devices. The only device that could hack the security system was a device that Oracle used when the security system was going haywire."

"Has there been any word on Barbara's status," asked Batman as he looked over at the computer.

"No and Dick hasn't called in either so we're missing two operatives," replied Selina as she typed into the computer. Just at that moment a video-mail popped up from the Birds of Prey headquarters and Selina immediately patched into it to see a badly beaten Misfit and Huntress. "What happened to you two?"

"We were looking up on a lead to the attack of two allies," said Huntress as she cracked her neck. "Someone was spying on us next door, but he proved to be too much for the both of us and kidnapped Barbara. He was wearing mask to cover his face, but he was dressed in a combat outfit with a Guy Faux mask on and a Fedora."

"Thanks, do you need any help down there?"

"No, we're fine, but you need to find Barbara fast."

The transmission cut off and Selina sat back in her chair to look at Batman who as stroking his cheek right then as he thought over the matter of Barbara's kidnapping. The man who had helped them was a wearing the same uniform as the one that attacked the Birds of Prey headquarters and fit the description well. But he had also saved them from Hush so he didn't seem to be a bad guy to them. The issue of who and what this man was in the whole scheme of things was put to a different mark because of the complexity of the situation.

"Well the only people missing are the Joker, Poison Ivy, the Riddler, and Killer Crock," said Batman as he started to check the Arkham files on each one of the Rogues that were loose on Gotham city. "None of them would be the type to do such a thing, except Nigma, but he seemed to be running against the person who did this as well. "Is there anyone I might have overlooked?"

"Perhaps the issue of that subject would be best put on hold," said a voice from over the video mail feed as the image of the Riddler appeared on the screen. "When is the villain not **the** villain? What is a man who is a zombie, but a not a zombie at the same time?"

"That makes no sense, I think he's finally flipped his lid," said Tim as he started to put his hand to the backspace to cut transmission, but his hand was stopped by Batman's.

"A man who is of the dead but not a zombie is a ghoul," said Batman as he realized where the Riddler was hinting at. "Rahs Al Ghul is the villain, but where is he keeping Oracle and Nightwing?"

"The answer is also a question and once you realize that the answer should be obvious," replied the Riddler before he cut the transmission.

"Where would Rahs Al Ghul be running his operations from," said Damien as he started to stroke his chin and then snapped his fingers. "The most obvious place would be near the docks so that a quick escape could be made."

"Not just the docks, but his own ship off the coast of Gotham Harbor," said Batman as he started to put in the sonar near there to pick up one of the ships in the dock yard.

"We should also be cautious of Edward, he doesn't give information out for no reason," said Selin as she looked at Batman and then started to gather her things. "So who will I be riding with?"

"You will be staying here with Damien," declared Batman as he put on his mask and then his utility belt. "Right now I want Batgirl and Robin to go in search for Poison Ivy and Nygma, see if they can find him. I have to take on Rahs Al Ghul on my own while you keep a close watch on Damien, don't let the League take him."

"Your son can take care of himself," protested Selina as she crossed her arms and tapped her feet slightly. "I can't just let you go out into probably the most dangerous place with only yourself as back-up; even you need help if you're going to fight him."

"I can get in by myself, but you haven't faced Rahs Al Ghul before," said Batman as he started to walk off only be stopped by a whip on his cloves. "Don't try and stop me from doing this, just stay here, Selina."

"Actually I was planning on going with you as well," said Damien as he stepped forward, his hand holding a rope. "You need both of us in case there is another one Rogue with him or in case this is more than what it appears to be."

"There is no way either of you is going to change my mind," said Batman as he looked at them.

* * *

"Just what do you plan to do about the two," asked Death Scythe as he looked at the two people who were tied up, guards who were supposed to watch over Barbara Gordon.

"Oh just wake them up and tell them to check over….something, those two don't matter in the big schemes of things," replied the Riddler as he walked over to the computer and started typing in it. "You are needed to assist me on the boat or else I won't be able to sneak away with my technology and my revenge."

"Alright, I'll be going to the helicopter," replied man as he started to pick up a submachine gun and walked out to the helicopter pad. "I want someone to keep a look over the communications array and make sure that no one gets a message out."

He stepped onto the platform of the helipad and waited for his employer to step on as well before he gave a nod the pilot to take the helicopter into the air. From the shadows of the helipad sat Barbara Gordon, watching the two major players leave their fortress, allowing for her to get an advantage out of the situation if she was careful with everything. First she started to wheel herself to the part of the warehouse where they were keeping Dick Grayson and she found it not surprisingly guarded by many thugs carrying guns. In her wheelchair she couldn't take on that many empty handed, a fact that she loathed the most because it would mean that she wasn't as strong as she wanted to be. Though it appeared like she had overcome her battle with the wheelchair, she was really still fighting it internally and she tried to make it seem like she wasn't.

_I guess I'm going to have to do this the hard way_, thought Barbara as she started to wheel towards the communications array as it was called, a simple cordless phone with a computer right next to it. There were also many guards in front of it as well, though half the number that was guarding Dick, but there was also a pool table with the pool sticks still there. _Thank god that I learned Eskrima._


End file.
